The goal of the Alcyon project funded by the MAVA Foundation is to contribute to the protection of seabirds in West Africa by identifying Important Bird Areas (IBAs) at sea.

Newsletteron Alcyon project activities

A new chapter begins...Second half of 2014

Slender-billed gull fitted with dataloggers on the bird island in PNDS

After 30 years of technical and financial support in the sub-region, Banc d’Arguin International Foundation (FIBA); the Alcyon project lead institution has just merged with MAVA Foundation, its ‘big sister’ and funder of the project too. Indeed, the West African context has developed positively in 30 years and FIBA can now withdraw and hand over to its partners; BirdLife International in particular, which is now entrusted with continuing implementation of the project.

This transition is not a constraint but a real opportunity. FIBA, with its strong relations and connections with West African partners, has been able to form many partnerships and thus, initiate the various studies launched since 2013. The project has now entered into an analysis and advocacy phase linked to the IBA process; a phase that will be perfectly handled by BirdLife International who clearly has the best expertise for this.

It is a new chapter then, but there is plenty to look forward to in the seasons to come. IBAs are beginning to emerge; issues and threats are appearing too; new partnerships are being created; ideas for new projects emanating in all directions. In the light of the first results achieved, the project is alive and well. Let us wish Good Luck to BirdLife International; the conservation of birds in West Africa is good hands!

Julien Semelin MAVA Foundation

(former FIBA programme Co-ordinator)

In Senegal, the complete seabird colony breeding season monitoring campaign that took place was a success in Saloum Delta National Park (PNDS), as part of the partnership between FIBA and DPN (Department of National Parks in Senegal), as well as research and GPS tracking activities undertaken by Veda Consultancy to support the park team.

Also, Sokhna Momie Thiaw and Stanislas Malou, two Masters students at UCAD, respectively submitted their theses on Caspian Terns prey and feeding areas, and an evaluation of Caspian Terns’ physical condition during their breeding period on ‘Ile aux oiseaux’ in PNDS. Viva of these theses is planned for 2015.

The second half was devoted to awareness-raising work, feedback of results among local stakeholders and in particular, consultation with tour operators that inter-act with PNDS. The park management carried out awareness-raising sessions in the three (3) main villages close to the park and several shows with local community radio stations. In addition, two (2) consultation meetings with tour operators (one in the north and one on the south of the park) were organized; and the first was officially launched by the Director of National Parks of Senegal. These first consultation meetings represent a first step in setting up a dynamic partnership to mobilize local stakeholders with a view to better protection of seabird colonies and park biodiversity whilst retaining potential for eco-tourist purposes. These consultations will continue in 2015 and in addition, a Masters student at UCAD will write their thesis on evaluating the socio-economic significance of seabirds in PNDS as part of consultations with tour operators in order to support the park in collecting the information required to continue this approach.

In addition, as part of identifying IBAs off the coast of the Dakar peninsula, our partner from UCAD Animal Biology laboratory are continuing visual observations on Cape Verde Shearwaters from Ngor Island, Red-billed Tropicbirds at Madeleine Islands National Park (îles de la Madeleine) and Audouin Gulls at Palmarin Community Natural Reserve as part of Ngoné Diop’s doctoral thesis on the ecology of these three (3) species.

Consultation between the Managers of PNDS and tour operators at Toubacouta (© J. Dossa)

Royal Tern colony on ‘Iîe aux oiseaux’ (Bird Island) at PNDS, Senegal (© VEDA Photography)

Ngoné Diop, a UCAD doctoral student, in the middle of counting and checking rings on Auduin Gulls at Palmarin (© J. Dossa)

Some of the ornithologists mobilized to support research underway on seabirds with the Alcyon project in the middle of bird watching off the coast of Dakar (© Semelin)

It was on this that Ngoné Diop gave an oral presentation of the progress of observations made in the session on seabirds as part of a AWA conference ‘Ecosystem Approach to the Management of Fisheries and the Marine Environment in West African Waters’ last December. Also, teams from UCAD and Barcelona University (UB) worked together on an experimental mission to capture Audouin Gulls in Palmarin to test the possibility of starting research on GPS/GSM tracking of this species starting in 2015. This was done as part of the partnership developed with Jacob Gonzales Solis’s team (a specialist in seabird study at UB) to give scientific support to the UCAD team in studying the behaviour of Audouin Gulls on their wintering areas.

In Cape Verde, for our Biosfera partners, the second half of the year was marked by a workshop organized on developing an action plan to conserve Cape Verde Shearwaters, which brought together around twenty (20) participants in Mindelo, Sao Vicente (Cape Verde Islands) including representatives from Cape Verde’s Ministry of Environment, ornithologists from Spain, Portugal and South Africa as well as experts from partner bodies (Birdlife, FIBA). The goal of this workshop, organized thanks to support from FIBA and Birdlife International (CMB project), was to improve the status of Cape Verde Shearwaters; a near-threatened species on the IUCN Red List. The action plan draft is already available and sets out six key priority objectives agreed upon during the workshop and related activities to be carried out in the short-, mid- and long-term. The following stages include support by Cape Verde to formalize the plan and support implementation which represents a decisive step in including future marine IBAs in management plans and in Cape Verdean national strategy to conserve seabirds.

In addition, two (2) students were able to submit their completed theses on the work done with Biosfera on Cape Verde Shearwater trophic ecology and the analysis of population counting methods on Raso Isle. This has contributed to capacity strengthening and the training of young ornithologists capable of carrying on the work of conserving seabirds in the sub-region.

Participants from the workshop on developing a Cape Verde Shearwater action plan consulting with local fishermen alongside the workshop (© Biofera)

A Cape Verde Shearwater in its nest on Raso Isle (© Biofera)

Photo of the group from the workshop on developing a Cape Verde Shearwater action plan at Mindelo (© Biosfera)

Off the coast of West Africa, as part of the cooperation between FIBA and IRD (Institute of Research for Development) that are piloting the AWA project, a session on marine birds was organized during the AWA conference ‘Ecosystem Approach to the Management of Fisheries and the Marine Environment in West African Waters’ last December. This session brought together a dozen international experts, seabird specialists who not only shared their research work on seabirds, but also discussed the different questions related to the issue in West Africa. This was the first time in West Africa that international ornithologists were mobilized on the issues of seabirds. This was also a chance to share experience of other projects on seabirds (mainly from South Africa) and discuss the ways and means for West Africa to contribute in context to protecting seabirds.

This kind of meeting on seabirds in West Africa illustrates the strong mobilization underway to address issues relating to their conservation; issues which are now obvious and which demand setting up possible measures to reduce the risks related to interaction with fisheries off African shores.As part of the collaboration begun with David Grémillet’s team from Montpellier University CEFE (Centre for Functional and Evolving Ecology) to study the spatial ecology of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) off West Africa; retrieving the GLS deployed this year on 21 Northern Gannets will validate the first findings (based on data from previous years) on the risks of the West African zone for these species. A scientific article has just been published by the team sounding the alarm on the risks associated with the interaction of European birds with fisheries off our sub-region (http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1QEKg1R~dwRa5). Continuing this cooperation will enable critical zones that form migration corridors and important wintering zones for these species to be identified; in particular, Northern Gannets.

Group photo of some participants in the seabird session under the AWA conference (© W. Mullié)

For further information :

Justine DossaAlcyon Project Officer

justine.dossa@birdlife.orgwww.birdlife.org

Photo of a Northern Gannet fitted with a GLS mounted on a Davic ring(© D. Grémillet)

Change of address for the Alcyon project coordination staff (see address below)

Master thesis viva (UCAD Animal Biology Department) of Sokhna Momie Thiaw and Stanislas Malou on Caspian Tern feeding, and Caspian Tern physical conditions in PNDS

Simultaneous worldwide counting of seabird colonies that nest in prime breeding sites in the sub-region (from Mauritania to Guinea Bissau) coupled with training of technical wardens of the sites concerned. This global counting is planned on a five-yearly basis in order to assess the change in the size of their population as well as their distribution in the different sites

2nd World Seabird Conference in South Africa, 26-30 October 2015, with strong attendance by West African partners.

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